


5 times Jimmy asked + 1 time he answered

by Laramie



Category: Downton Abbey
Genre: 5 Times, Fluff, Happy, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-13
Updated: 2015-05-13
Packaged: 2018-03-30 07:08:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 621
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3927523
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Laramie/pseuds/Laramie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jimmy keeps asking Thomas a question. Eventually, they both realise why.</p>
            </blockquote>





	5 times Jimmy asked + 1 time he answered

The first time Jimmy asked was a Tuesday, Thomas remembered that distinctly, though he couldn’t have said why he was so sure. The day was unremarkable in every other way.

The two of them had coincided in the corridor just as upstairs’ lunch had finished. “I swear the old lady’s got it in for me,” Jimmy muttered to Thomas. “You should have heard the way she was carrying on. Can I have a cigarette?”

Thomas shook one out of the packet, glanced inside to confirm that it was the last one, and handed it over anyway.

Jimmy took it from his fingers. He kept eye contact as he lit it and breathed in deeply. He glanced up and down the corridor. Then he asked it: “Are you still in love with me?”

Thomas looked at his feet, which was the only way he could find the courage to say: “Yes.”

Jimmy had just smoked in silence, a little crease between his brows, before Mr Carson happened upon them and chivvied them along.

The second time, Thomas could not remember what day of the week it was, but he could probably have looked it up because it was Valentine’s Day. Jimmy had sat opposite him at breakfast, rubbing the handle of his teacup with his thumb. Thomas had not received any cards. Jimmy had received one, looked hard at Ivy, and not bothered to open it.

As the staff rose to start their morning tasks, Jimmy leaned across the table to him. “Are you still in love with me?”

Thomas pressed his lips together, looked at the grain of the table, and said: “Yes.”

He did not know why it was so impossible to lie about it; but somehow, he felt as though he owed it to Jimmy to be truthful in every respect.

And if it made Jimmy uncomfortable, well, he could stop asking, couldn’t he? Thomas never told him of his own accord.

The third time, they were walking to the village on their half-day, with plans to eat in the pub and pass the afternoon playing cards and word games. They had been in the middle of a conversation about something trivial when Jimmy suddenly said: “Are you still in love with me?”

“ _Yes_ ,” Thomas said, a little irritably, and this time he could look at Jimmy. “Why do you keep asking?” Why did he have to rub it in?

Jimmy looked startled, his eyes widening, and then troubled. He shrugged. “Just wondered.”

The next time he came bursting into Thomas’s bedroom only moments after Thomas had left him downstairs. Thomas yelped in surprise and quickly pulled his shirt closed around himself again.

“Are you still in love with me?” Jimmy demanded, his eyes wild.

Thinking that he might be beginning to understand, Thomas said gently: “Yes. Why?”

Jimmy rubbed a hand through his hair and turned to leave. “I just needed to know...” He drifted out of the room and Thomas had to close the door behind him.

Then it was when they were sharing a smoke in the yard, quiet in their companionship.

“Are you still in love with me?”

“Yes,” Thomas replied calmly. It was easier to say it now; perhaps it was the practise. “Why?”

Jimmy breathed out smoke slowly. “It’s important.”

“Is it?”

Jimmy just shrugged.

* * *

 

The last time, Jimmy intercepted Thomas on his way in the back door as he returned from running an errand.

“Are you still in love with me?”

Thomas was distracted by returning his dripping umbrella to the basket and said simply: “Yes.”

He looked up to see Jimmy nod once, as though that was only right and proper.

“Good,” he said firmly. “I’m in love with you too.”

**Author's Note:**

> This was inspired by a quote from todowntononanimpala's fic called "You Weren't There", so this is dedicated to you impala. Here's the quote:
> 
> Sometimes he wondered whether Thomas was still in love with him. He didn't know why it was so important to know, but he needed it. He was about to ask, a few times, but he had never dared.


End file.
